TBC Classic Feral Druid Tank Guide

Druids are the only class in the game capable of fulling all four roles: tank, healer, ranged DPS and melee DPS.

While only tank is considered a top tier spec, Balance brings powerful buffs and debuffs to a raid, Restoration is the most mana-efficient healer and excellent in PvP and small groups, while melee DPS is the only spec in the game that can tank and DPS at maximum efficiency with the same talents.

Feral Druids are among the best tanks in TBC Classic and also have strong utility for their party in Leader of the Pack, a 5% physical crit aura. They bring multiple support spells which can be used during tanking downtime, such as Innervate and Rebirth, both of which are vital in most raid encounters.

In PvP, Feral Druids are strongest in world PvP, thanks to stealth, high burst and high mobility which prevents their targets from escaping. Barkskin, Travel Form and Dire Bear Form also make them exceptionally tough against gankers. Once they get a lot of Resilience, they are among the best flag carrier options in Warsong Gulch, and can dish out a lot of pain in Arenas as well!

If you would like to see where Feral Druid tanks fall in the overall rankings among tank specs for PvE in TBC Classic, we have created a page dedicated to explaining what classes and specializations are the best of the best through multiple factors. However, ultimately, you should not let this list dissuade you from playing what you enjoy.

Strengths

• Quick leveler and strong solo class, able to stealth, deal high burst damage and heal;
• Best tank / DPS hybrid class, as most talents, and even gear, can be shared between both roles;
• Great physical group support with Leader of the Pack and Improved Leader of the Pack.

Weaknesses

• Defenses are gear dependent and surviving can be a struggle until good gear is attained;
• Weak scaling with gear due to reliance on feral attack power on weapons and dots / energy, which do not scale with secondary stats;
• High skill cap class, requiring good dot management, tanking know-how and the advanced powershifting technique for maximum DPS when not tanking.

Unlike other classes, Druids do not have a choice when it comes to race. If you want to go Alliance, you must be Night Elf. If you want to go Horde, you must be Tauren. Thus, your only choice is which faction you want to choose, which you should make based on your guild, friends, or cosmetic and lore preferences.

• Nature Resistance increases your Nature Resistance by 10.
• Quickness increases your Dodge Chance by 1%.
• Shadowmeld is an ability that allows you to become stealthed while standing still when used, on a 10-second cooldown. This cannot be used in combat.
• Wisp Spirit causes you to transform into a wisp upon death, increasing your movement speed by 50% while dead.

Shadowmeld is a powerful ability for PvP which allows you to stealth in a single spot, potentially giving you the opener if you can position yourself carefully. It also allows you to macro Shadowmeld together with your food and water to eat and drink while stealthed, which is especially powerful in the Arena.

• Cultivation increases your Herbalism skill by 15.
• Endurance increases your total health by 5%.
• Nature Resistance increases your Nature Resistance by 10.
• War Stomp is a 2-minute cooldown that stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds, with a 0.5 second cast time.

War Stomp is quite reliable in PvP, often allowing for an emergency Regrowth cast, but has little PvE uses. The 5% increased health from Endurance is amazing for tanking. Finally, Taurens have a larger hitbox (especially males), which grants them a slightly increased casting range, but also makes them be hit by enemy abilities more easily.

Engineering gives multiple useful bonuses for Feral Tanks, such as the extra damage from Super Sapper Charge and Gnomish Flame Turret, the party haste buff from Gnomish Battle Chicken, and powerful stamina trinkets Goblin Rocket Launcher and Gnomish Poultryizer.

Enchanting also has significant personal benefits due to exclusive ring enchants which will increase your throughput for all of TBC, especially once you can enchant stats on rings, but even striking will be strong early on.

Leatherworking is also a strong profession as it allows you to craft and use the Primal Intent set, which can be used to fill gear gaps early on. You will also be able to craft your own Strength of the Clefthoof set. You will also get Drums of Battle, which are an important consumable only brought by Leatherworkers, although the early versions of drums require you to go out of form, which is not recommended while tanking.

Jewelcrafting has relatively weak personal benefits early on, but allows you to craft Hard Khorium Choker by Sunwell, which is a good reward for picking up this profession.

Finally, Alchemy is an excellent gold maker with its transmute recipes and the new elixir, potion, and transmute masteries making it a strong support profession for your alts.

If you would like to learn more about how your profession of choice can be used to supplement your goldmaking, along with a variety of other means to bolster your income, see our full goldmaking guide linked below:

Using macros and addons makes your life significantly easier when playing TBC Classic, and they can improve your experience a lot, depending on how skilled you are at customizing them.

If you are interested in learning more about addons and macros suited to Feral druids, check out our guides below: